The Diamond Code

Rhea slammed her apartment door shut, the sound echoing through the empty space. Frustration curled in her stomach like a slow-burning fire.

She tossed her purse onto the couch with more force than necessary, barely missing the glass coffee table. Her heels came off next, one kicked near the door, the other landing somewhere near the bookshelf. She didn’t care.

“Unbelievable.” she muttered as she dialled Nisha's number.

She had been on disastrous dates before. Men who wouldn’t stop talking about themselves, guys who chewed too loudly, and even one who had casually mentioned he still lived with his ex.

But Aryan Khanna?

He was on an entirely different level of disappointment. Her thoughts came to a halt as Nisha's voice rang through her phone- half-sleepy,half-awake.

"Hello?" She said, drowsiness clung to her words.

Rhea rolled her eyes at her bestfriend. "I am going to kill you!"

"Okay! But can't it wait till morning, you disturbed my beauty sleep" her half-asleep mumble barely made it through the phone, words yawning louder than she did.

"You are officially dead to me!" Rhea said. Her tone dead serious. But both of them know it is anything but serious.

Nisha yawns, trying not to fall asleep, as she replied, "Again? What did I do this time?"

“Oh, I don’t know—maybe set me up with a guy WHO VANISHED IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR DATE LIKE A DAMN MAGICIAN.”

Rhea replied mockingly as she stomped into the kitchen, yanking open the fridge. Her fingers hovered over the bottle of wine before she sighed and grabbed a can of Coke instead. Alcohol wouldn’t fix her irritation.

Nisha paused for a moment, her sleep long gone.

“Wait… he ghosted you? During the date?” Nisha's voice rang  again as Rhea resisted the urge to kill her.

“Oh, not just ghosted—full-on disappeared for twenty minutes." She replied as she cracked open the can, drinking a sip, the carbonation stinging her throat.

"Woah! So you're saying he pulled a disappearing act, a magic. That's so hot." Nisha fake-gasped.

“HOT?! NISHA, HE LEFT ME SITTING THERE LIKE A TOTAL IDIOT. DO YOU KNOW HOW HUMILIATING THAT WAS?” Rhea sputters fuming in anger.

“Okay, okay, calm down, Miss Hulk. Maybe he had an emergency?” Nisha said trying to pacify her.

Rhea scoffed,“Yeah, sure. Emergency my foot. What, emergency? Did his pet goldfish got a labour pain?”

"You never know. Maybe Mr. Mysterious was summoned by the Secret Agent Council for a high-stakes mission.” Nisha shrugged as she lied comfortably on her bed pulling the blanket to her chest.

“He’s not a secret agent, Nisha.” Rhea replied dryly, taking sip of her drink as she plopped on the couch.

Nisha closed her eyes as she said dreamily “You don’t know that. Maybe he had to defuse a bomb. Or stop an international criminal. Or—”

Rhea groaned. “Or maybe he’s just an inconsiderate man-child who doesn’t know basic dating etiquette.”

“Oh no. He is anything but definitely not a man-child.” Nisha gasped dramatically.

Drama queen.

Rhea scoffed as she said,“I’m serious, Nisha! He didn’t even text afterward. No ‘Hey, sorry, I had to go,’ no ‘My grandma got stuck in an elevator,’ nothing! Just vanished.”

Nisha gasped. “Rhea.”. 

“What?”

“What if… he was abducted?” She whispered as Rhea Facepalmed herself. “By whom? Aliens?”

Nisha nodded solemnly “Yes. But, like, sexy aliens. The ones that only take hot people, OH. MY. GOD. I've to protect myself. What if they abduct me also?"

Rhea groaned as she looked up, praying to God to knock some sense in her bestfriend's pea-size brain. “Remind me,Why are we friends?”

“Because I make your life interesting." Nisha replied, flashing a toothy grin. "Now, be honest—was the date at least fun before he ghosted?”

“…It was annoyingly good.” Rhea replied, her voice reluctant.

Nisha squealed, “I KNEW IT! You liked him.”

“No. I liked the conversation. There’s a difference.” Rhea said pointing aggressively at her phone.

Nisha giggled, “Riiiight. Keep telling yourself that."

"You're useless" Rhea said, annoyed.

"No, I'm fun. There's a difference." Nisha replied grinning at herself,"And now you stop obsessing over him, though he was droolworthy, he's not worth it for you to remember. Go and get some sleep and let me complete my beauty sleep."

Rhea hummed as she ended the call.

***
Later that night as Rhea sat doing her night routine, she found herself lost in thoughts. Her mind keep replaying every moment of the evening again and again.

The way Aryan had held her gaze when he spoke. The lazy confidence in his smirk. The way he listened—actually listened—to her words, instead of just waiting for his turn to speak.

And then, just like that, he had walked away.

Rhea closed her eyes as she took a deep breath to erase the memories from the mind.

She hated unanswered questions.

She had spent years building control over her life, making sure that nothing—no one—could knock her off balance again.

And Aryan?

He was a question mark she hadn’t planned for.

"Nisha was right, he's not worth to even be in my mind. If he wanted to disappear, then he could stay gone. I've work to do." She muttered to herself as she made her way to bed, pulling the blanket, soon drifting into deep slumber.

To be continued...
                                                                                 

Don't forget to vote and comment.

Also, I'm thinking to give double update today as I'm almost done writing Chapter 6, so thought why not post it and make you all happy.

I'll be finished with editing chapter 6 in next hour, so, make sure to vote and comment to let me know if you guys want a double update or not. 😉